Devil's Advocate
by ShatteredGoggles
Summary: Officer Levi is assigned to work with local coroner Hanji Zoe when an alarming number of murders are reported, all linked by a small slice of flesh missing from the back of their necks.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This story is co-written by myself (Levi) and my friend (Hanji) as part of an RP and we felt it would be fun to publish as a fanfiction!_

* * *

It was a dreary Monday morning, the clouds above gray and heavy, threatening to unleash a downpour at any minute. The city streets were bustling with people as they made their ways to their jobs, local coffee shops, or anywhere else the average city citizen would go. A short statured man maneuvered around the crowds, umbrella clasped tightly in his hand as he made sure to keep from brushing against a stranger. Levi, one of the most well-known cops within the 14th precinct, was summoned to his minuscule office at 8:30 in the morning by his superior, Erwin Smith.

Entering the police station, he scoffed lightly to himself at the bedraggled people sitting in the chairs, waiting for loved ones, acquaintances, whoever called asking for bail. Strutting past them, Levi nodded in greeting to his fellow officers before he headed to his own private office, immaculately clean and organized compared to the remainder of the station. Sitting in his chair, he sighed and began to get his paperwork ready as he awaited Erwin.

A knock was heard at Levi's door, followed by a crisp "Come in," from the room's single occupant. He looked up from his latest report to see the man of the hour, Erwin, walk through the door. The tall, blond man nodded at Levi. "Good morning," he said, Levi echoing his words as he sat across from the officer. Erwin produced from his jacket a manila envelope, sliding it towards Levi. The dark haired man took the envelope, carefully extracting the files from within as Erwin spoke.

"These are files from our latest, and most troubling, case yet." Erwin began. "These are the pictures and evidence for last night's latest murder. It matches the last 5 we had this month." Levi scanned the gruesome images, noting how nearly identical the killing strikes to the back of the neck were.

"This has become a serial killing, Levi," Erwin said, "and you're the man I've decided should lead the investigation of this case."

Levi leveled a steely gaze at Erwin, face blank. "What led you to that conclusion, Commander?" he asked.

Erwin chuckled politely. "You've been looking to get a promotion for a while, am I right? Considering your impressive skill in finding tiny details out of place, I believe you will be able to catch our mysterious killer."

Papers began to cover Levi's desk as he sorted through them, observing the evidence taken, the placement of bodies, the victims, everything and anything the other officers felt was necessary to report. Levi skimmed the evidence and theories before him, cringing at the scrape of Erwin's chair against the hardwood floor when the man stood.

"We have a body at the hospital down the street, in their autopsy," Erwin said, looking down at Levi. "I suggest you go actually introduce yourself to the coroner instead of holing yourself up like you normally do during a case." At this, Levi's blank gaze turned to a glare. "Don't give me that look, Officer," the taller man said, straightening his tie. "You'll really need to get assistance from others for this case. It's the biggest this precinct has seen in decades."

With those parting words, the door closed and Levi was left alone in his office. Sighing, he stood, organizing the reports into neat piles, putting the ones relating to the current case in his briefcase and snapping it shut, before pushing his chair in and leaving his office. He passed by some of his colleagues, nodding to their greetings as he made his way out of the station. He walked towards the hospital, deciding to get this mandatory talk with the coroner out of the way.

* * *

Across town at the local hospital, the staff wore grim faces as yet another body was being wheeled down to the morgue. There was suspicion of either murder or suicide as the cause of death for the moment. The gurney passed through a final set of doors into a spacious, well-lit room lined with rows of metal doors that held the recently deceased. A woman was lying on top of one of the examination tables, and the blonde boy that had wheeled in the new cadaver let out a sigh before making his way to the table.

"Oi, coroner, please wake up. We've got another body."

The woman stirred and began to stretch, wiping off a bit of drool onto her lab coat in the process. She looked like a train wreck; completely unprofessional for her standing in the medical field. Hanji was her name. She was one of the most well known pathologists in the region and had a bad habit of delving so far into her work that she would go days on end without any regards to personal hygiene. It wasn't unusual for any of the interns to find her sleeping in piles of paperwork at her desk or, as had just been witnessed, one of the examination tables in the lab.

Hanji adjusted her glasses, slightly crooked from the position she had been sleeping, and glanced over at the covered body. With a quick grin she got off the table, stood to full height, and placed a hand on her assistant's shoulder, "Let's get started then, shall we?"

There was always a glint in Hanji's eyes whenever she got to examine a new patient, and it never failed to unnerve Armin. The boy was one of the most recent interns in the hospital. In fact, he was the only one willing enough to work with Hanji save for another short blonde nearly identical to Armin that had transferred out after only a week. Christa, if he could recall correctly. She had said something about how unsettling Hanji's performance was when working with the cadavers. Armin looked over at his superior and the way she was, almost disturbingly, grinning down at the patient.

Hanji's eyes roamed over the lifeless body laying before her while she scrawled out some notes. "Female... About eighteen years in age..." she mumbled into the clipboard before setting it aside. Armin watched on as Hanji began the external examination of the body, looking over any injuries or marks in search for the cause of death. Before the young male could pick up on anything, Hanji let out an excited "Ah-hah!" and smiled at her assistant.

"She has the same marking on the back of her neck as the past couple have had. It's most certainly not the cause of this person's fatality, but is definitely a form of signature or trademark."

"So... we're looking at a mass murder. A serial killer." A bit of fear sunk into Armin's expression as he made the realization. Hanji nodded in confirmation before going to search for the cart that housed all her needed equipment.

"I received a call from the police station late last night. They say they're going to be sending someone over to investigate the bodies today." She paused for a second and made her way back to the table, carting an array of tools along with her, "I hope you don't mind working late."

* * *

Levi arrived at the hospital 15 minutes later, walking in and asking the receptionist where the coroner's office was as he flashed his badge. Getting the directions, he walked towards the autopsy lab doors. He didn't bother knocking, opting to walk into the labs and look around at the multitudes of examination tables, medical equipment, forensics machinery, the works.

"Anyone home?" Levi asked.

Sudden noise of the doors opening caused the young intern in the room to let out a high-pitched yelp and drop the tray of small instruments he had been carrying. Armin had gotten a little too used to the unusual silence that had swallowed the room about an hour ago. Hanji had finally managed to stop rambling on about suturing techniques and disappeared somewhere within the lab.

The crash of the tray prompted what appeared to be a very disheveled Hanji to emerge from the depths of her office. A trail of paper followed the woman in a fluster as she rushed out to investigate. "ARMIN WHAT'S WRO-" her sentence was cut off as she noticed a second person in the room, "Oh."

"I-I'm sorry, I'll clean this right away, coroner!" Armin stammered out and began to hurriedly gather the fallen utensils.

Hanji paid little attention to her assistant and focused on the dark haired man standing near the doorway. A quick once over of the individual had given her a fair amount of starting information. He looked to be in his early thirties, yet his stature gave him the appearance of a young teenager. Hanji inwardly chuckled and let a simple smile take over her expression as she made her way across the room.

"You must be the detective Erwin told me about earlier." She extended an ink covered hand in invitation. "My name's Hanji Zoe; the coroner of this establishment."

_This should be fun._

Levi, arms crossed as he watched the assistant blonde clean up, looked up at Hanji and wrinkled his nose at her disheveled appearance, something he did not expect from someone in the medical field of all things. He looked down at her outstretched hand and scoffed lightly to himself, noting the dots of ink along her palm before hesitantly grasping her hand in his, shaking it briefly.

"I'm Officer Levi," he introduced, looking around the lab. "So what information do you have?" he asked, cutting right to the chase. "I have evidence collected from my station, but I'd like to know from you what's been going on."

A light sparked in her eyes and the poor fool didn't know what he had done. Hanji grinned from ear to ear, jumped excitedly, and ran off to one of the many metal doors that lined the room. With a quick lift of the hatch, she swung the door open and pulled out the bed of the compartment all in one fluid motion. "Patient Mina Carolina. Eighteen years of age. Cause of death: multiple wounds varying in size and depth across the entire body." Hanji removed the blanket-like cover from the body to reveal a gruesome sight. A tidy row of stitches had been sewn into the skin to make a large 'Y' shape across the entirety of Mina's torso where Hanji had performed the autopsy not too long ago.

"Each cut looks to have been made by a knife of some sort, but it's hard to pinpoint exactly what kind. Cuts that were made on the extremities don't appear to be as deep as those closer to her torso." Hanji's earlier excitement had faded down to deep concentration as she pointed out particular points of interest in the array of wounds. There was a small moment of silence as she hovered her finger over a pattern of incisions on the cadaver's chest. "These ones here looked to have been made with precision. When I performed my autopsy I noticed something... unusual to say the least." She paused for a moment to adjust her glasses and turn her attention to Levi, a slight grimace now spread across her face, adding "This young woman is missing four rib bones and a heart."

As if her train of thought had completely derailed, Hanji turned and headed to her office without another word.

Levi was quick to grow suspicious of this doctor, specifically her mood swings. One minute she was giddy, the next somber, and then suddenly robotic. Levi wondered how anyone in the medical field could border on something like bipolar disorder or some shit he vaguely recalled from his college days.

"Oi, Four Eyes," Levi grunted, grabbing Hanji by the ponytail and yanking her back towards him and the body laying on the examination table. He had listened to her every word only for her to trail off on him? He pulled the coroner's head down closer to his. "What the hell was that all about?" he asked, his face betraying no emotion but his eyes speaking volumes.

For a split-second Hanji sported a look of shock before her expression contorted into a glare. Although normally pleasant to those she had just met, Hanji decided that this... man... would be an exception. Not only had he thrown an insult to her glasses, which now sat crooked on her nose from the jarring movement, but he had the audacity to pull at her hair.

"First off, short stack," she re-adjusted her specs, "I suggest you remove your hand from my hair unless you'd like to lose it." It almost came across as a joke. Memory of Armin finding pencils as well as a variety of office supplies briefly crossed her mind and Hanji had to inwardly chuckle. "I have a file in my office that may hold a fair amount of importance to your case. Unless you don't want it?"

And with that, Hanji flashed him a challenging grin.

Levi's brow twitched at the short comment, but he brushed it off as he roughly released his hold on her hair, brushing his hands on his pants and crossing his arms. "I'd prefer to know when someone is about to cut short a conversation to suddenly walk off," he said, meeting her grin with his stoic expression. He was beginning to heavily believe his initial thoughts of her behavior, nearly labeling her "insane" if it weren't for the fact she was indeed a licensed medical personnel.

He held her gaze before motioning with his hand for her to leave and retrieve the file. As he waited, he walked towards the dead body and began to observe it, noting the erratic placement of knife wounds, as if the killer was desperate to sink their knife into the girl as many times as possible, as quickly as possible.

Hanji spun on the ball of her foot and, once again, headed off towards her office without bothering to give Levi a response. "Who knew that much brutality could be housed in such a short man," she whispered to herself, letting out a soft chuckle.

The coroner's office was just as disheveled as she was, maybe even worse. A fine coating of papers and file folders covered nearly every square inch in the room. Even the walls had documents tacked on them. A variety of small, metal knick-knacks along with a few pieces of medical equipment lay strewn across what appeared to be a desk. The only person that could decipher the actual contents of the room was Hanji, and even she had trouble remembering at times.

"I really should clean up in here," she briefly thought to herself while studying the room. There was a small pile of dirty clothes in a corner of the room as a result of a couple late night lab adventures. Armin had been so sweet to bring her a change of clothes. Too bad they never made it back out.

With the mess being as it was, Hanji had no choice but to step on a couple of the papers that had been thrown to the ground at some point in time. She cleared off a pile of books from her desk chair and laid them atop a larger pile somewhere else before digging into the desk itself. _"It shouldn't take too long to tidy up a little bit, right?" _she thought to herself.

Levi began to tap his foot impatiently, waiting for the coroner to return from her office. He looked over at the young blonde man standing near him before glancing back towards the closed office door Dr. Zoe disappeared down. After 30 more seconds of waiting for either the coroner to return or the lab aide to go get her, he decided to take matters into his own hands. He walked towards the door, ignoring the stuttering intern.

The door was wrenched open, and Levi swore it was a glimpse into hell. His eyes widened slightly as he looked around, the mess extending to every nook and cranny of the small room. He could feel his fingers twitch, itching for some gloves and a bottle of disinfectant. "Doctor..." he called out, "What the /hell/ is this?"

Hanji poked her head out from behind a medical journal she had recently discovered in the landfill of an office. Despite her efforts to organize at least a small portion of the clutter, it only ended up a larger disaster than when she first set out on the endeavor.

"Hm? Oh! I forgot you were here, detective. It looks like your patience matches your height." Hanji closed the journal she had been immersed in and set it on a stack of papers, finally focusing her attention back to Levi. It looked like he was caught on the edge between verbal rampage and utter disgust, and Hanji wasn't exactly sure what to prepare for.

In hopes of defusing the situation, she stood up and held out a file to him. "I believe this is what I originally came in here for. All of the information that we have so far is written in there."

For a moment Hanji wondered if she should have taken Armin up on his earlier offer to type out her notes. She may have known the content of the pages to heart, but to another person, the words might as well have been written in a different language.

Levi looked down at the file as if it were diseased (and it probably was) before he gingerly took it with only his thumb and forefinger. "Thank you," he said, gingerly opening the file and scanning it. His stoic face quickly turned to a glare as he attempted to read the doctor's chicken scratch. Fed up, he looked up at the coroner with a steely gaze.

"Have you ever heard of a computer?" he asked, "Because I can't read this shit you call handwriting." He promptly snapped the file shut and handed it back to Hanji, careful not to actually touch her fingers with his. "In order for this to be beneficial to me, I'll need this typed or at least written in a language humans understand."

She accepted the file back into her possession and met his glare with a set expression of her own. It wasn't a surprise to her that the man had been upset by her handwriting. Honestly, she would have been shocked if he hadn't.

"Typing up the contents of this folder would be very time consuming for me." Hanji sat back in her swivel chair, slightly exasperated. "I'd rather not have my assistant do the work. I don't want him to know this case in it's entirety."

The recent string of murders had been putting everybody on edge. Each time a new body was wheeled into her lab, Hanji knew she would be looking at another victim. It had almost become a pattern at this point; one per week for the past six weeks.

Hanji pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a deep sigh. There was so much work to be done. Oh so much work. But she had to deal with this detective.

"Meet me at the café on Maria Drive tomorrow, and I'll go over everything I've written down."

Levi sighed in exasperation, feeling his time was being wasted by the coroner's lack of initiative towards keeping her notes and files neat and orderly in the first place,but he could not deny the importance of confidentiality. He mentally cursed Erwin for giving him this particular case, promotion or not.

"Fine, what time?" Levi asked as he snapped his briefcase shut in a practiced maneuver. "I am free after four," he said.

"Five o'clock," she answered, scrawling something down on a slip of paper before handing it to Levi. "Just in case you need to get a hold of me."

No longer paying any attention to the man standing before her, Hanji set back on her futile attempt to clean up the small office. A small glint showed in her eyes as she filed through paper after paper.

Levi took the slip of paper, opening his wallet and slipping it in neatly before pocketing it and giving a slight nod to Hanji. Without saying another word, the short man left her office, walking out of the hospital and back to the precinct, deep in thought.

What the hell was up with that coroner? She was the total opposite of what he expected from someone in the medical field, post-mortem or otherwise. Her work areas were a mess, her overall personality loud and abrasive with odd bouts of seriousness thrown in. He sighed wearily to himself as he sat down at his desk, pulling out his wallet and looking at the hastily scribbled phone number Hanji gave him. _Tomorrow would definitely be interesting..._


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Thank you so much for all of the reviews/favorites! We both really appreciate the feedback!

* * *

_"SHIT."_

It was five thirty and Hanji sprinted out the door of her apartment, shoulder bag in tow. Somewhere in the midst of the night, she had found herself deep in research once again. Maybe she shouldn't have brought home all those books from her lab.

It had taken countless hours to finally straighten out her office, even with Armin's help, but Hanji managed to turn the disaster into controlled chaos. Hanji had uncovered so many unread books in the process that her assistant expelled a sigh. Armin may have been a bookworm himself, but he could never get as into his research like Hanji did.

The coroner had opted to forgo sleep in favor of reading. A majority of the text had been various studies in human anatomy, whereas the others had been old murder mystery novels. Hanji loved reading the novels, especially when the author described every last detail and did it accurately. If there were any mistakes, she was sure to scribble down corrections in the margins of the page.

Hanji inwardly cursed at herself. If that little fiend of a detective had a stick up his ass after seeing her office, Hanji wasn't sure she wanted to see his reaction to her being late.

After fifteen minutes of running, the coroner made it to the café. She was completely out of breath and looked as if she had just come out of no-man's land. Glasses were skewed, only one sleeve of her jacket was on, and, if it was even possible, her hair appeared to be messier than usual.

Hanji gave a quick glance through the building's window before entering the sweet smelling shop. She scanned the room in search of the tiny man in hopes that, by some twist of fate, he hadn't gotten there yet.

Hanji's hopes were for naught. Sitting in the back was Officer Levi, immaculately dressed in a suit and tie, sipping from his coffee cup, holding it in an odd way with his fingers on the rim, as if touching the sides would contaminate him. He looked up at the sound of the soft tinkling of the bells hanging from the door to see the coroner he had waited forty-five minutes for. He watched her as she scrambled to the table.

"You're late," he said calmly, taking another sip from the steaming cup. "I would've thought someone in such a precise career field would be more organized and timely."

"My apologies," Hanji said as she sat down in a wooden chair across from Levi and unceremoniously dropped her bag to the floor, "I started to read an old book I didn't know I had last night. The author did such a good job! The immense amount of detail that was put into his story was so captivating." Her breathing got erratic with excitement, and there seemed to be an aura radiating about the woman as she carried on. "It started off so simple; a young man looking for a new life in the big city. Turns out he was evading arrest for murder. BUT-" Hanji just about yelled her last word and shot straight up, palms slamming back down on the table with a creepy grin plastered across her face. She leaned over, inches from the detective's face and whispered, "-it was just all fictional, right?"

Hanji's eyes were wide open, the recounting of her book almost throwing her into some strangely excited fit. Was it normal for people to get that worked up over a bit of mere text?

Silence worked its way through the room as other customers turned their attention to the disturbance. Some looked on in confusion, a couple whispered to each other, and few others almost seemed worried. One woman picked up her bag and made a hasty retreat.

Levi didn't budge when Hanji's face was invading his personal space. He raised a brow at her and motioned for her to sit down. "I'm beginning to doubt you know the difference between fiction and reality," he said, pausing before adding, "Or the difference between an indoor voice and shrieking like a damn banshee."

He looked around the coffee shop to see the disturbance her outburst caused, noting the overall unease. Looking back at her, he nodded for her to continue.

Hanji snapped back into semi-reality and composed herself, slowly slipping back into her seat. The recent onlookers resumed their earlier activities and went on acting as if nothing had happened. Perhaps she should have chosen a more isolated location for their meet-up.

"It really was a great story," Hanji's voice had gone back down to a reasonable volume, but the excitement still ever present. "But I suppose now's not the time for that."

Reaching down, the coroner pulled a familiar file from her bag and placed it on the table. "You were able to examine one of the bodies yesterday, but everything you're going to need to know is in this folder." Hanji opened the cover and began to spread papers out in no particular pattern. It wasn't like anybody else could read the marks on them except for her or maybe Armin. There were a couple of pictures mixed in and Hanji made sure to hide them from the public so they wouldn't draw any more attention than they had already received.

"What you already know covers a fair amount of information already; marks to the nape of the neck appear to be the murderer's signature." She pointed to one of the lines of written text. "Right here, I took note of the erratic laceration patterns. Each victim's wounds concentrate towards the torso more than they do extremities, such as the arms or legs."

Hanji looked away from the mess of papers and met Levi's gaze. "I don't believe that their intention is to kill for the sake of killing. The victim that we observed yesterday was only different from the others in the fact that her heart had been completely removed. There were similar cuts on the others, but it looked as though there wasn't enough time for the killer to get the job done."

At this point Hanji had gone deep into thought, recalling every last detail of the cadavers she had examined. Five weeks had passed since the second murder, and Hanji had to wonder how long it would take until the killer was brought to justice.

Levi studied the images, noting what Hanji pointed out about each of the victims. He then pulled out his own files, neatly organized and typed, and matched crime scene to cadaver. His calculating eyes studied each detail. Not looking at Hanji, he began speaking.

"Under normal circumstances, discussing the case with you would be against protocol. However, since I have been asked to work closely with you, I will share some things we've noticed within the crime scenes. Perhaps you can help us match circumstances."

He began showing Hanji different photographs from crime scenes, pointing out the points of entry, objects suspected of being used to try to disarm the serial killer, and things the killer used to subdue their victims. Each case had a common factor - the door was always used as the point of entry and the victims were usually killed within the kitchen or hallway, never a bedroom or bathroom. That was where the similarities ended.

Levi tucked the files away after being sure Hanji studied them clearly enough. Folding his hands over the table, he looked Hanji in the eye. "What do you think happened to our latest victim, coroner? From beginning to end."

This really was turning into quite the peculiar case. Hanji didn't have a huge background in forensics, but she picked up a fair amount from her prized murder mystery novels. She never thought they'd actually come in handy.

From what she had seen on the files Levi had breifly shown her, Hanji quickly connected the dots. Her brows furrowed in concentration while she processed the new information. It was crystal clear to her what exactly had happened.

"The victim never had a chance," she began, nearly deadpan in her voice. Hanji's eyes had widened behind her glasses, so that it almost made her look mad (though her disheveled appearance may have been the primary cause for that). "These attacks were obviously premeditated. The killer knew exactly where to go, what to do, and how to do it."

Her fingers began to twitch a bit as she spoke, fingernails grinding against the wood of the table. "They trapped their prey just as a green heron would; by planting bait. The unsuspecting victim got pulled into a place where they were unable to make an escape and, before even knowing what had happened, was knocked unconscious."

Little trails had begun to form in the table where Hanji's fingernails had repeatedly dug in and scraped. There was something about recalling the case that got her going. She was finally getting to live out the plot of her own murder mystery, and it was just so damn thrilling.

The earlier grin that had spread across the coroner's face had returned once again. "Their weapon had to have been a small one. Anything too large would become a nuisance to carry around." Hanji looked straight into Levi's eyes, her own conveying the strange pleasure that coursed through her entire being. "They were going for the heart each time. Knowing from experience in my practice, a smaller instrument is the best for precise cuts once inside one's insides; a scalpel."

Her body trembled with excitement, and it was almost a wonder that Hanji hadn't shot out of her chair again. A few of the other customers in the shop had been catching glances of the show Hanji was putting on. It was a wonder they hadn't been asked to leave yet.

Levi watched Hanji's odd behavior silently, eyes following her fingers. While he listened to her hypothesis, he couldn't shake the feeling Hanji had some sort of experience with this type of murder. He cleared his throat, hoping to bring the woman's attention back to focus.

"So you're saying someone who has access to equipment such as a scalpel is the suspect?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "That sounds rather far-fetched. Almost fictional."

Levi leaned forward, eyes meeting Hanji's and holding her gaze. "Listen, it's vital you keep fact from fantasy while we're working together on this case. Just from observation of these last two meetings, I've concluded a couple of things. One, you're a goddamn slob. Two, you read too many shitty murder novels. We have no room for your head to be in the clouds if we want to catch this serial killer before they kill half the shitting city!" Levi's voice only rose slightly towards the end of his tirade, his eyes darkened into a scowl.

If looks could kill, Hanji was certain she'd be well on her way to the afterlife. What was so wrong with getting a little excited? Sure, it might be a little strange considering the case, but this was like a dream made reality to her.

She was a little hurt that he had insulted her novels. It was one thing to comment on her hygiene. She was very aware about how bad it got from time to time. But the books she had been so very in to since childhood were something she had a hard time taking criticism on.

Letting out a simple sigh, she decided it'd be best to let it go for now and dial down her excitement. "I'm not saying that a scalpel is the weapon for sure. It's just that it would possibly fit the description." Hanji forced her body to calm. "Besides, it's not that hard to get a hold of a scalpel. Our list of suspicious persons would still be just as high."

Hanji sat back in her chair and looked about the café. A majority of the earlier crowd had left, but there were still a couple stragglers.

"Anyways," she turned back to look at Levi, "from what I can tell so far, there's not a single thing we can say about the killer themselves. We can't discern their gender, race, height... anything."

Despite her enthusiasm for the case, this was starting to become a very drawn out conversation for Hanji. She tilted her head back ever so slightly and stared at Levi with an almost bored expression. "What do you plan to do about this, detective?"

Levi was impressed she didn't cower or leave after his outburst. Most people would've shit their pants by this point. He leaned back in his chair and sighed wearily. "We've been trying to predict who the next victim could possibly be," he said, flipping through some notes. "So far the victims seem to have no connection to each other but, as you said, these murders all appear premeditated."

He began to pack up his notes, tucking them neatly into his briefcase and snapping it shut. Standing, he looked down at Hanji with a slight nod. "I believe this is all we can really discuss at this point. I'll be in contact with you as we continue our investigation," he said, pulling out a pad of paper and writing his number on it. Handing the paper to Hanji, he added, "Call if you discover anything." Levi took his coffee cup and disposed of it as he left the shop.

Hanji accepted the paper and shoved it into her bag.

She stretched a little bit and stood up, finally adjusting the sleeve of her jacket that had been hanging for the past hour. A small smile pulled at the corners of her mouth as she called out to Levi before he left the building, "Try not to get mistaken for a lost child on your way home!"

A little proud of herself, Hanji's smile turned to a grin. It'd be such a shame if she didn't poke a bit of fun at the detective before he got away.

Levi froze at the door, gripping the handle tightly. He took a deep breath before turning and facing Hanji, walking slowly and precisely towards her. Giving her one of his famous glares, he stopped inches away from her. "I hope you realize, _doctor,_ that we are professionals in a professional field."

Levi's face scrunched when he noticed how terribly dirty her glasses were. He took them from her face, pulled out a small cloth, and cleaned them before giving them back to her. Without another word, he left the coffee shop.


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Thank you guys for your awesome feedback and support! Sorry for the slow updates this time around!  
_

_**EDIT: A small chunk of the story accidentally got taken out near the end of the chapter, but we've got it fixed now. Happy reading! (-Hanji)**  
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* * *

It was Saturday morning and Hanji was sitting atop one of her kitchen counters. She was always early to rise and "sleeping in" wasn't a part of her vocabulary.

She loved to sit and watch the city wake up with the sun while she sipped coffee from a mug. There was something calming, so much so that it nearly became a routine. Every morning, Hanji would get up solely to watch others do the same. She loved to watch over the population; mannerisms were so much fun to observe.

Sometimes she would bring a notebook and write down what she saw. Other times, she opted to sketch out the faces of random pedestrians.

With a drawn out yawn, Hanji set her mug down on the counter and stretched out her body. Ever since her meeting with that little detective, she had dedicated every last minute of her time to the case. Her office at the lab had reverted back into the likes of a wild jungle and Armin swore he saw his superior's eyes glow red a couple times.

Hanji slipped off the counter top and let out a soft laugh. It was Armin that had insisted that she take some rest and stay at home for a day or two. He made sure she got back to her apartment and double checked that she hadn't snuck files from the lab to go over while she was away. Armin was such a sweet boy. She'd have to remember to thank him somehow.

There was a small trail of clothes from where Hanji had started in the kitchen that lead to her bathroom. Normally she would go to bed with a little less on, but Armin had stayed until he was sure she had gone to sleep and she didn't want to traumatize the poor boy.

Soon enough, steam began to cover the bathroom mirror and Hanji drowned herself in the heat. It wasn't often that she actually took showers at home. A bit of deodorant normally did the trick. That is, if she even remembered to put any on at all.

Little suds flowed down Hanji's lean body as she began to remove the excess amount of shampoo (if she used enough it would compensate for when she didn't shower, right?). Her mind began to wander in topics, jumping from work to that ever growing grocery list to simple house tasks before finally landing on Levi. For some reason her thoughts always ended up back at him. They had only met twice, yet she found herself thinking about that little fiend a fair amount since their last parting.

From the first encounter, he was not at all what she had expected. He was so damn serious and always wore that grimace on his face. Hanji half wondered what took a shit on his face to make it freeze that way. Perhaps he drank some sour milk as a child and never got over it.

Maybe he would surprise her. Despite the short fuse he seemed to carry with his personality, she was sure that there was a nicer man behind that facade.

Something that resembled a mix between a sigh and a hushed laugh fell from her lips. Had the water always been this hot?

Hanji shut the shower off and stepped out, wrapping a towel around her hair and allowing the rest of herself to air dry. In her opinion there was no real reason to cover up so long as she was living alone. Besides, adding another towel to the laundry was too much hassle for a busy woman such as herself.

A few articles of clothing were strewn across her room, mixed in along with some books and other things Hanji hadn't bothered to put away. The bulk of the mess, however, was in her closet. A massive pile of clothes sat at the floor next to a pair or two of shoes. Nothing was hung up and Hanji almost wondered if she could uncover a new specimen within the mess.

A couple minutes later she finally decided on a simple pair of jeans, a loose tank top, and some combat boots she had pulled out of the fabric debris. She wrestled her hair back into the usual ponytail and was a bit proud of how quickly she got the job done this time around. Hanji didn't exactly consider herself to be overly fashionable, but liked to think that she had a small sense of taste.

The coroner fell back onto her bed and looked over at her cell phone. She had added Levi's number just in case, but nothing had happened over the past couple of days that would have given her a reason to call. Maybe he was taking the day off like she was. So long as she wasn't allowed back into the lab by Armin's decree, she figured it'd be nice to have someone to be around in the meantime.

Hanji swung herself up into a sitting position and flipped open her cell, filing down the contact list until she got to "Inch High Private Eye" and tapped the call button.

Seconds later she heard the man on the other end pick up the line and, without allowing him a moment to say hello, started speaking a mile a minute.

"Levi! I know we haven't spoken since Tuesday, but my assistant forced me to take the day off and I don't exactly have anything to do. Sooooo, I was wondering if you would like to accompany me at the park today?"

* * *

Levi woke up early that Saturday morning, silencing his alarm within the first ring. He climbed out of bed, stretching and smoothing the wrinkles out of his pajamas before turning to his bed and making it, creasing the folds to perfection and fluffing his pillows before neatly placing them on the bed. After straightening his alarm clock on the nightstand, he walked to his bathroom to take a shower.

He removed his pajamas and folded them, placing them on a shelf within the bathroom and preparing the shower. While he waited for the shower to warm up, his thoughts drifted back to his past week. After his meeting with the insane coroner from the hospital, he had poured over her notes and his, comparing the two. Despite the additional information, there still were too many unknowns to even begin to give him a lead.

Sighing, Levi combed his fingers through his hair before getting into the shower, scrubbing himself clean as he continued to think about the case... and one crazy coroner. He'd never met a more likely person to fit the psychological profile of insanity and yet he couldn't stop thinking about her mannerisms (he would also ponder how long it's been since she showered and then shoved that thought out of his head quickly, cringing mentally).

Finishing his shower, Levi got himself ready for a day of personal relaxation - cleaning his entire one bedroom apartment. He armed himself with all of the necessary supplies; a broom, cleaning rags, cleaner, a dust mask, dusters, the works. He fixed the dust mask onto his face before he began moving his furniture to get at the hard to reach places first, dusting and sweeping until every spec of dirt was gone. As he worked, he thought again about Hanji and then mentally slapped himself. Why in the world would he be thinking about her?

A melodious ringing from his pocket broke Levi's reverie. He pulled out the phone and Levi stared at his phone in disbelief. _"Speak of the devil..."_ Sighing, he sat on his plastic-covered couch and rubbed his temple, opening the phone and answering it with a curt greeting. After listening to her question, he sighed. "Does this have anything to do with the case at all, Doctor?" he asked the woman on the other line.

Hanji got off her bed and started to walk around the apartment. "My assistant's banned me from thinking about the case at all." She let out a lighthearted laugh at the memory of the young blonde dragging Hanji from her office. Armin really did have more physical strength than he looked to possess.

"I was thinking that we could spend some time together and forget about the case for a while. Who knows; maybe it'd help a bit." The coroner had made it to her living room and was pushing around a couple of books with her feet. She didn't know exactly why, but Hanji always had the prickling urge to walk around while she was on the phone.

A small knot started to twist in her stomach in a fit of anticipation as she waited for his response. What if he declined her offer? What would that even say about her? Did her personality come off a little too strong the other day?

Irrational fear began to creep into the corners of Hanji's mind. The man hadn't even declined yet and she was expecting the worst.

_"What the hell did I just do?"_

Levi's eyebrows raised in mild confusion as he contemplated Hanji's question. The coroner was definitely a different entity of her own and it honestly intrigued the officer. Her mood swings were something to watch out for but there was no denying she had the brains to back up that medical degree he saw in her office (covered in dust, he added mentally). He considered everything he still had to do in his apartment and the fact that he would be willingly spending time with someone he considered insane.

Maybe he was suffering temporary insanity himself, he mused as he responded. "Fine. Meet me there at 2 PM _sharp_. If you are a minute late, I'm leaving," he replied. "I have some work to attend to." Levi mumbled a goodbye before snapping his phone shut and resuming his cleaning frenzy.

Before she even had the chance to bid Levi adieu, Hanji heard the line fall silent and stood still in disbelief. The entire conversation had taken but a few minutes and had left her completely shocked. It wasn't really the fact that she had asked the detective to essentially "hang out", but more because he had actually said yes.

Hanji shut her phone and shoved it into one of her pant pockets before calmly walking back into the bedroom.

It was still fairly early in the morning and sunlight was still finding cracks and crevices to peek through. Hanji indulged herself a bit in the noises of the earlier hours: birds were chirping, car engines came to life one after another, and every now and then the cries of a small child could be heard.

Mind still reeling a bit, the coroner grabbed a pack of smokes from one of her night tables and headed over to her window. It wasn't very often that she smoked, but on occasion she deemed it necessary. Before opening up the window to crawl out to the roof, Hanji lit her cigarette, making sure to avoid a fight with the wind outside.

Smoke streamed out her nostrils as Hanji situated herself onto the shingled landscape. "Two o'clock sharp..." she mused, "What an odd time to meet on a Saturday."

* * *

Levi's quest to conquer dirt was spent thinking about what he had just agreed to. He didn't understand why he had agreed to meet Hanji at the park but there was no turning back now, he thought to himself as he pushed his furniture back into place, nodding at his handiwork before grabbing his cleaning supplies and tackling the kitchen.

He spent a good few hours cleaning his apartment, the kitchen spotless, the bathroom sterile enough to perform surgery in, and every closet neatly organized and dust free. He glanced up at his clock and noted the time. _"1:30... I should get ready..."_ he thought to himself. Levi removed his dust mask and gloves, disposing of them properly before walking to his closet and pulling out a button up shirt and nice, dark jeans. Dressing, he smoothed his clothes and grabbed his keys, leaving his apartment.

Levi arrived at the park at 1:50 and sat on a bench near the entrance. He then began the waiting game, phone out to check the time. He would make good on his promise if that shit-for-organization coroner were even a minute late.

With only seconds to spare, Hanji came strolling in. She had made sure to leave her apartment with just enough time to appease her short acquaintance.

It really had turned out to be a lovely afternoon. The sun was shining bright in the sky and there wasn't a single cloud to be seen. Innocent citizens walked the pathways of the park, minding their own business, and Hanji started to take small mental notes of the area.

"Levi!" Hanji called out and waved a hand in the air. She took note of the man's usual grimace and fought to combat it with a bright smile of her own. Maybe if she kept herself in higher spirits she could break that expression of his. "So how's my favorite inchworm doing today?"

Hanji sat herself down on the bench a mere inch away from Levi and swung her arm around his back as if they had been friends for a lifetime.

Levi stared as the coroner approached and nodded when she greeted him, feeling his eye twitch at her height jab. He watched her sit before following her gaze outward to the park, noting the amount of litter on the ground and that there was a young couple walking on the pathway Hanji did moments ago. He felt his eyes wander, taking in other details.

Growing uncomfortable with the silence around them he looked back to Hanji and cleared his throat. "You're the one who demanded this endeavor so I expect you to lead it," he paused and added, "If you have the mental compacity to do such a thing."

If it were even possible, Hanji's grin spread even wider on her face before she broke out into a hearty laugh and gave Levi a firm, almost forceful, slap on the back (completely ignoring whether or not she may have just knocked the wind out of the man). Her laughter faded just as quickly as it had arrived, "You're a funny little man, Levi."

Truth be told, Hanji didn't have a plan for the day at all, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to let him know. Whatever had crawled up the shorter man's ass and died there the other day (or in another life) didn't show any sign of crawling out.

The coroner gave a smaller pat to Levi's back and softened her grin, "Why don't we walk around for a bit and see where the day takes us, hm?"

The coroner took in a deep breath, smelling the fresh air and fully bloomed foliage of the area, before plastering that goofy grin across her face. She looked down at Levi with a glare in her glasses that made it damn near impossible to see her eyes through and awaited a response from the little detective.

Levi grunted at her slap, surprised more than anything by her strength. He squared his shoulder and stood, offering a hand to help her up. "Let's get this over with before you find a way to kill me." He looked her over after pulling her up and raised an eyebrow. "Someone knows what a shower is then?" he asked before turning and walking down the path, knowing she'd follow whether he liked it or not.

As he walked he couldn't help but wonder what went on in this woman's mind... He was used to organization, strict time regimens, a routine and the coroner was just throwing all of that off. See where the day takes them? The last time he'd done anything so unplanned had seemed lifetimes ago.

Hanji accepted his hand and slipped a quick, "thank you," and trailed the man.

She stared Levi down from behind and rapidly took mental notes on his posture. Stiff, just like his personality, but with a certain type of fluidity to his stride that only piqued her interest in the man even more. She could just barely make out the muscles that hid underneath the man's shirt yet a sudden interest to explore the man's every crevice shot through her system.

"You know," she started, poking him on the back of his shoulder a few times, "I only showered because I knew I was going to meet up with you today." It was a blatant lie, but she wanted to see his reaction to the statement more than anything. Wanted to know if she could make him "tick".

With a slightly faster stride, Hanji soon passed Levi and took the opportunity to walk ahead for a moment or two and survey more of the scenery.

Levi made a small scoffing noise in response. "Probably best for your sake, you might've attracted wild animals." he quipped, watching out of the corner of his eyes as she sped past him. Most people would've gotten sick of his sarcastic jabs and left by now... What made Hanji so different?


End file.
